UN Bodies Urged to Relocate Offices to Aden

PM says relocating the main offices of UN bodies would encourage other humanitarian aid organisations to follow suit

Al Mukalla: Yemen’s prime minister has urged international aid organisations to shift their main offices from Al Houthi-held Sana’a to the southern city of Aden, the temporary capital of Yemen.

At a meeting with Rashid Khalikov, assistant secretary-seneral for humanitarian partnerships with the Middle East and Central Asia, Ahmad Obaid Bin Daghar said on Tuesday relocating the main offices of UN bodies would encourage other humanitarian aid organisations to follow suit and would accelerate aid distribution, adding that his government would also ask foreign ambassadors to relocate to Aden.

Security has improved considerably in Aden since government forces deployed thousands of soldiers in all districts and purged armed groups who used to wreak havoc in Yemen’s second city. Government forces backed by military support from the Saudi-led coalition kicked Al Houthis out of Aden in July. Al Qaida exploited the security vacuum in the city during fighting and deployed fighters in Aden’s Mansoura district.

Separately, local officials in the province of Marib said on Wednesday that coalition’s air defence shot down a missile fired at the city of Marib, apparently targeting the military bases of army troops and the coalition. Al Houthis have fired at least a dozen ballistic missiles at Marib since early last week. All of them were intercepted before reaching their targets.

Fighting raged in the southern city of Taiz as the government forces pushed to take control of new strategic sites on the eastern sides of the city. Army commanders and allied tribal leaders said on Tuesday that at least 20 Al Houthis and five government forces were killed around Han mountain and neighbouring hilltops on the western suburbs of the city. Heavy shelling by Al Houthis killed three civilians and injured five others, according to local activists who document Al Houthis attacks in Taiz. Fighting also intensified in Dhale and Shabwa provinces.

The Saudi-led coalition fighter jets struck military camps controlled by Al Houthis in Sana’a and their armed vehicles in Taiz, Jawf, Hajja and other places.